Outrage in Veracruz over hate crimes: 21-year-old gay man murdered

Miguel Angel Medina Lara, 21, was murdered on August 8 in the state of Veracruz, which so far this year has recorded at least 17 hate crimes.

August 13, 2019

Photos: Facebook. Miguel Angel Medina Lara, 21, was murdered on August 9 in the municipality of Acayucan, Veracruz state. His body was found in the Gregorio Vidal Alor cemetery, his head crushed with stones and showing signs of torture. According to Jazz Bustamente, a member of the National Observatory Against Hate Crimes, some 42 hate crimes have been registered in Mexico in 2019, 17 of which were committed in Veracruz. In all of these cases, there have only been two arrests, and only two have been brought to trial. Miguel was a gay man who identified as non-binary. Activists are denouncing this as a hate crime, although the Veracruz State Attorney General's Office did not consider it as such (an aggravating circumstance under Article 144 of the Veracruz Penal Code). It is also suspected that he may have been a victim of sexual abuse. However, LGBT+ activists have expressed doubts about how the case was investigated. It is still not entirely clear how the events that led to the young man's death unfolded, Bustamante told Presentes. Luis Geovani Pérez, a member of the National Observatory of Hate Crimes, a member of the Veracruz LGBTQ Coalition, and president of the Ambient Tales Collective for sexual diversity in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, also agrees that it was a hate crime. He told Presentes that the coalition—which brings together more than 30 organizations from all municipalities in Veracruz—is very concerned and hopes to meet next week with the Attorney General of the State of Veracruz, Jorge Winckler Ortiz. The activist condemned the dissemination of a photo showing Miguel murdered, which he said revictimized him. His family had reported him missing the day before he was found dead. The media reported that he had been stoned to death. “At this stage of the investigation, we are allowing the authorities to do their job. We trust that there will be justice for him, and we will demand it until it is,” his cousin Alex Lara told Presentes. The night before his disappearance, Mike—as his friends called him—had participated in a three-day theater workshop coordinated by Alex. He attended the first two days, even showing his drawings and mentioning his desire to be a model. He also belonged to a group of entrepreneurs. Alex remembers him this way: “His legacy was his uniqueness. He brought this to the family because he was out of the ordinary, unusual. But for him, that was a source of pride. He was happy being different from everyone else, but he wasn't 'weird' on purpose; it was simply who he truly was, and he allowed himself to live that way, even though some might not have liked it.” And she adds: “He leaves us his drawings, many creations that his skill in drawing allowed him to produce on paper, in notebooks, on videos, and in photos. Now we have them as the legacy of the art he made, which was surely going to be the beginning of great things he was going to do.” Increasingly younger people “In this country, sexually dissident populations are increasingly being oppressed, fragmented, and attacked for embracing and building who we are. Mike’s murder fills me with outrage because younger and younger comrades are being killed ,” Bustamante pointed out. Despite the fact that Mexico has passed laws guaranteeing the right to same-sex marriage in some states; and has promoted laws for labor inclusion, health services, and non-discrimination policies, attacks based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression persist. “Hate crimes in our country constitute a structural problem, built on hate speech by religious groups and civil associations disguised as defenders of values and traditional families,” Bustamante told Presentes. “From an anthropological perspective, the discourse that gay men, lesbians, and trans people are aberrations, evil, and should go to hell is very relevant. This reinforces and is becoming normalized to the point that people justify physical and fatal attacks,” he added. According to the report “Hate Crimes Due to Homophobia,” prepared by the Letra S Organization, between 2013 and 2018, 473 LGBTI people were murdered in Mexico. 261 of these murders were against trans women; 192 against gay men; 9 against lesbian women; 5 against bisexual men; and 1 against bisexual woman.

We are Present

We are committed to a type of journalism that delves deeply into the realm of the world and offers in-depth research, combined with new technologies and narrative formats. We want the protagonists, their stories, and their struggles to be present.